Guest Post: Nancy from My Blonde Ambitions

Right about now I am frantically running around finishing last minute details. I was lucky enough to get Nancy from My Blonde Ambitions to fill in for me. I met Nancy over 10 years ago from a friend of mine in college. The thing I remember most about Nancy is that she is hysterical and easy to talk to. At the time little did I know how much creativity she oozed! Fast forward years later, somehow I landed on her blog and now faithfully follow. She’s a fun mom, always up to something crafty and has yummy recipes too. Thanks so much for guest posting Nancy!

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I am so excited to be doing a guest post for Mique here on 30 days. But, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’ve lost a fair amount of sleep pondering what to post about. Despite the insomnia, I’m hoping you’ll agree with me that the anxiety was well worth it as I’m pretty excited about what I’ve come up with to share. So thanks for this opportunity Mique!

First let me introduce myself. My name is Nancy and I blog at My Blonde Ambitions. I began blogging a little over three years ago and have immensely enjoyed the creative outlet that my little blog has become for me. I stay home with my kids (thanks to my hard working man of a husband Travis) and turn to my blog to share things that inspire me, and connect with others who do the same. So feel free to check in on me and see what I’ve been up to.

For my guest post today I turned to the crafty part of my brain, and came up with this jewelry display concept. It was so simple to make, and turned out even better than I imagined. I hope you’ll feel free to make a version of this to enjoy for yourself. Here’s a picture of the finished product to spark your interest, and then I’ll walk you through the steps of how to put one together.

Here are some close up shots.

Now it’s about to become very apparent to you that I have a deeply ingrained love of jewelry. All the women in my family do, and it goes back multiple generations. So to say I have a fair amount of jewelry is a bit of an understatement. So I love that this jewelry hanger proudly displays my jewelry where I can see and enjoy it rather than having it tucked away in a drawer somewhere. If you’re looking for function over form this may not be the jewelry hanger for you, but if you love to have your jewelry out and display it almost as a piece of art then you’re going to love this. Here are a few more versions that I made.

These two are table top versions, and are purely to display rings.

This one is also a tabletop display, but can be used for rings and bracelets together.

Here is another hanging display, and is the same as the first only with different paper and paint.

Okay so are you as in love with these as I am? Want to learn how to make one for yourself? They are so easy, I promise. Here’s how I did it.

First there’s a few items you will need from the craft store (I shopped at Michael’s): some craft wood that has nice routed edges, wooden dowels, scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, (I used the paper kind in the matte finish) paint, (I used craft paint for the edges of the main piece and spray paint for the dowels) and a paint brush or sponge brush. And from the hardware store I picked up these cup hooks, they are the little screws with hooks on the end that you can see in the first picture. While you’re at the hardware store you might see about having your dowels cut to size. I had my Father-In-Law trim mine in his wood shop, but don’t be afraid to ask at the hardware store. Also I pre drilled my holes for the cup hooks, but learned that this was an unnecessary step because once I put the paper on I could no longer tell where the holes were, and had to re drill. So learn from my mistake and don’t bother pre drilling. And if you want to make the hanging version of this jewelry display you’ll need a picture hanger thing as well (I have a picture of this further down).

First up you’ll need to take your craft paint and paint around the edge of your wooden piece. I probably did 4-5 coats to make it look nice. You don’t need to paint the whole thing because your paper will cover most of it. Then you’ll need to measure and cut your paper to fit the inside of the wood.

After you’ve got your paper cut to fit simply Mod Podge it on. I poured a fair amount of the Mod Podge onto my wood and spread it out with my brush. I have found the paper less likely to bubble by putting the Mod Podge onto the wood as opposed to the back of the paper. Then take your hand and smooth out any air bubbles. Let this dry completely.

Now you’ll want to put a couple of coats of Mod Podge onto the top of your paper. Once this is completely dry you can put a picture hanger thing on the back. Now get your drill gun out and put the bit on that will drill a small hole. (Can you tell I don’t know a lot of these power tool terms? There is probably a name for this bit, but I’m kind of lacking that vocabulary, sorry!)

Once you have your holes drilled you can take your cup hooks and screw them into place (you just screw these in by hand into the holes you’ve already made). These will hold your dowels which will in turn hold your jewels. Here it is with the dowels in place.

Hi- I'm Mique (as in Mickey). I started 30days as an idea file a few years ago. After three years and hundreds of ideas, I now realize that I'll never check them all off my list. When I'm not creating, I love spending time with family and friends and long drives, especially if they end at the beach.

I was SOOOOOO excited to come accross this site, I was looking for a way to hang my rings, I am getting ready to make a jewelry holder out of a pic frame but my rings, I just couldn't figure out….then I saw this!!!!!! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!

I'm already thinking of the other applications you could use this for… I have two daughters that share a room..so space is at a premium…I'm thinking necklaces, hair ribbons, headbands… Thanks for the inspiration!!

Love this idea. I've been wanting to do something like this with my jewelery. Thanks! One question (probably a dumb one sorry) unless I missed it, I didn't see what size dowel to purchase. I'm sure it would vary according to the size of hook, but just wondering what was used for this tutorial.

So cute. I would have never thought to use the dowels like that. Thanks for sharing the idea!

Hi! I'm Mique(Like Mickey!) I started 30days several years ago as my idea file. After 5 years and thousands of ideas, I realize I'll never be able to check them all off my list. I'm a married mom of 3 active kids trying to juggle it all. Thanks for spending part of your day with me! Read More...